The present invention relates to toy vehicles and, more particularly, to a trim adjustment for toy vehicle steering that is used to maintain a generally neutral or central position of the steering wheels of a vehicle when a user is not turning the vehicle.
Various conventional toy vehicles employ a steering arrangement that includes a single, rigid steering link or “tie rod” connecting together a pair of individually pivotally mounted, steerable front wheels. The front wheels are turned left or right by reversible operation of a power-converting device like a steering motor or solenoid for converting the direction of the front wheels between a straight or neutral direction and a right turn direction or a left turn direction. However, these direction-converting devices are difficult to maintain in a central or “straight” orientation when the user is not attempting to steer the toy vehicle. Moreover, parts of the steering arrangement are relatively easily damaged from aggressive play or accident and can be thrown out of alignment such that the toy vehicle moves in a turning direction when it should be moving in a straight line.
Therefore, it would be desirable to create an adjustable trim mechanism of a steering mechanism of a toy vehicle that overcomes the above-described disadvantage. Specifically, it would be desirable to create a trim adjustment of a trim mechanism of a steering arrangement for a toy vehicle that helps stabilize the steering arrangement of the vehicle to maintain a generally neutral or central position of the steering wheels of the vehicle when a user is not turning the vehicle and to adjust the steering arrangement when necessary to maintain the neutral or central position.